Michael Brandman

"The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasn't exactly beautiful, but she'd tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead. Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone doesn't know her name. Whoever she is, she didn't deserve to die. Jesse starts digging, only to find himself caught in the crosshairs of a bitter turf war between two ruthless pimps. And more blood will spill before it's over"--

When a visiting actress becomes the subject of a death threat, Jesse and the rest of the Paradise police department go on high alert. And when Jesse witnesses a horrifying collision caused by a distracted teenage driver, the political repercussions of her arrest bring him into conflict with the local selectmen, the DA, and some people with very deep pockets.

When legendary sheriff Burton Steel summons his son Buddy home from LAPD Homicide, a reluctant Buddy agrees. Burton is debilitated by ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. While Buddy is to cover his back, not an assignment he wants, the clincher is it's his last chance to connect with his proud, overbearing parent. What Buddy doesn't expect is to encounter crime in Freedom, a privileged coastal community a hundred miles north of Los Angeles, as vicious and...

After his involuntary retirement, Jesse Stone investigates the suspicious death of a young friend while the Paradise police force deals with the arrogant new chief, who is the son-in-law of a town councilman.